Liquid distributing device



* a-Law...

23, 1960 E. A. EDMONDS 2,949,935

LIQUID DISTRIBUTING DEVICE Filed Oct. 29, 1956 7 |1 LIQUID; I 7 1 e x l 6 trip I h 1 M &\\\ a 2/ l l H ha l5 l4 EUGENE A. EDMONDS ATTORNEY INVENTOR U ted Stat patefit LIQUID DISTRIBUTING DEVICE Eugene A. Edmonds, Louisville, Ky., assignor to Henry Vogt Machine Company, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Oct. 29, 1956, Ser. No. 618,772

8 Claims. (Cl. 138-38) This invention relates to an improved liquid distributing device for controlling and directing the flow of liquid from a header into a vertically arranged tube.

Despite their apparent simplicity, conventional liquid distributing devices have important disadvantages or limitations. For example, they are seldom eifective in operation under low liquid heads. With low liquid heads, they usually cause the incoming water to swirl and suck in air. This distorts the fluid flow preventing the continuous delivery of a uniform liquid film to the tube. Furthermore, most designs do not lend themselves to easy and inexpensive alteration or modification to increase or decrease the flow rate through them or to accommodate changes in the wall thicknesses of the tubes in which they operate.

The principal objects of the present invention are: to provide a liquid distributing device which is so simply constructed that it can be easily, quickly and inexpensively manufactured inone or more difierent ways; to provide one which is extremely effective in non-swirling operation over a wide range of liquid heads reaching down to the top of the liquid distributing device; to provide one which has unobstructed passageways of simple shape which are not readily obstructed by sediment; and to provide one which can be easily, quickly and inexpensively machined either to increase or decrease the flow rate through the device or to accommodate changes in the wall thickness of the tube with which it is used.

The main objects of my invention are realized in a liquid distributing device of mushroom shape having a cap and a centrally depending stem, respectively of greater and lesser outside diameter than the inner internal diameter of the tube with which the device is to be used, with the lower peripheral corner of the, ,cap both lightly indented continuously throughout its circumferential extent (to provide an annular seat for centering the device upon a tube) and deeply indented at spaced intervals (to provide peripheral inlet and bottom outlet ports with an interposed passageway interconnecting said ports) and with the periphery of the stem increasing in the downwardly direction until its lower end or base cooperates with the inner wall of the tube to form an annular slot therebetween.

As will be obvious, this device is so simply constructed that it may be easily, quickly and inexpensively manufactured. I have discovered that the use of the peripheral inlet slots in these distributing devices substantially eliminates the tendency of the incoming water to swirl. As a consequence, it may be used with low liquid heads reaching down to the level of the top surface of the cap without being subject to swirling. Its passageways, being of smooth unobstructed character, are not readily clogged. Finally, it can be easily, quickly and inexpensively machined either when initially made or later when modification is necessary to increase or decrease its flow rate or to accommodate a change in the tube wall thickness. My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a portion of a heat exchanger showing liquid distributing devices embodying my invention, one in section, the other in elevations;

Figs. 2 and 3 are bottom and top plan views, respectively, of the device shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a modified form of liquid distributing device.

My liquid distribution device is intended for use with equipment of a type having, as shown in Fig. 1, an upper liquid header 1, containing, at its bottom, a tube sheet 2 supporting a body of header liquid 3 up to a predetermined and usually constant level 4, and a bank of vertical tubes 5, which depend from the tube sheet 2, with their upper open ends connected to receive liquid from the header. Preferably the upper open ends of the tubes'5 extend upwardly through the tube sheet and project upwardly from the upper side thereof a distance suificient to permit sediment to accumulate on the upper surface of the tube sheet and reduce the possibility of its passing into the tubes. 9

In accordance with my invention, a liquid distributing device of mushroom shape is provided. The device, used in the drawing to illustrate one embodiment of my invention, comprises: a cap 6 having a centrally depending stem 12..

The cap 6 has an outside diameter greater than the inside diameter of the tube on which it is used but this outside diameter need not be any greater than is required for seating purposes. Preferably, therefore, the outside diameter of the cap is the same as the outside diameter,

of the tube 5. The lower peripheral corner of the cap 6 is slightly indented or cut away continuously throughout its circumferential extent to provide an annular outwardlyfacing shoulder 7 of relatively reduced outside diameter, which centers the device upon the tube, and a downwardly-facing annular seat 8- to seat the device upon the upper end of the tube.

The lower peripheral corner of the cap 6 is also deeply indented at spaced intervals along its circumferential extent to provide a series of correspondingly spaced water flow passages 9, each extending from an inlet port in the periphery of the cap to an outlet port in its bottom face. The passages 9- may extend in a radial plane relatively to the vertical center of the device as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 or they may be offset from the center to extend somewhat tangentially as shown in Fig. 4. The deep indentations, which forms the passages 9, incidentally interrupts the shoulder 7 and seat 8, dividing each of them into arcuate segments but this does not afiect their respective functions.

The number of passageways 9, and the cross-sectional area of each, will, of course, depend upon the amount of liquid which the device is intended to pass at a given operating head of liquid. While any suitable number of passageways 9 may be employed, I prefer four. The crosssectional area of each passageway 9 obviously is controlled by the depth and width of the indentation or cut producing it. In use, if the flow area of the device is too small, the walls forming the passageways 9 can be readily machined or ground to Widen or deepen the passageways to the extent necessary. If too deep, the seat 8 can be machined to reduce the vertical dimension of all inlet ports.

In some cases, the gauge of the tube 5 may vary. For example, a 1" OD tube, which should have a ID, may in fact have a smaller ID. In such event, it is a relatively simple matter to reduce the OD of the shoulder 7, by machining or otherwise, to the degree necessary to enable the shoulder 7 to fit within the tube.

The stem 12 is, of course, integrally cast or otherwise integrally formed with the cap. The circumference of this stem is made to increase progressively and uniformly in the downward direction so as to form a depending conoidal spreader, the lower end or base 13 of which cooperates with the internal periphery of the tube to form a circumferentially extending slot 14 therebetween. The base 13 preferably has a peripheral wall extending parallel to the inner wall of the tube 5 over a short distance, say of an inch, which should be suificient to introduce the slight water-flow resistance required at this point to insure the formation of a continuous and uniform water film.

This device isconventionally drilled centrally through the stem 12 and cap 6 to provide a vent bore 15. The upper end of this bore is enlarged to seat the lower end of an upright vent tube 17, which has its upper end in open communication with the air space above the liquid level 4. The vent thus provided prevents the development of a vacuum in the space immediately below and adjacent to the base 13'. While this is not a new feature, my design readily lends itself to the use of the simplest form of vent.

It will be readily appreciated: that my device is simply constructed; that it is capable of being easily, quickly and inexpensively manufactured by casting or machining from bar stock, etc.; that itspassageways are of a simple unobstructed form not readily clogged by sediment; and that it can be easily and quickly altered by machining to make desired changes. It has proven to be extremely effective in producing non-swirling operating conditions over a wide range of liquid heads. I have obtained extremely good results with distributing devices of this type over a 'good range of sizes for tubes. In this connection it may noted that a device of this character having a 1" top should normally pass from 1 to 2 gallons, having 1%" top from 2 to 4 gallons and having a 2 top from 2 to 8 gallons.

' Good results have been obtained on a 2" tube, for example, with a device having a cap of 2" OD and standing 1% high. The cap was dimensioned inch from its top to its bottom and /2 inch from its top to the seat 8. Its four inlet ports were dimensioned x inch and its shoulder slightly less than 1% inches. The stem ranged from a minimum of /2 inch to a maximum of 1%; inches at the base.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A liquid distribution device for equipment of the type having an upper liquid header, containing a tube sheet supporting a body of header liquid which is maintained upon the tube sheet up to a predetermined level within the header, and a bank of vertical tubes, which depend from the tube sheet with their upper open ends connected to receive liquid from the header, comprising:

a body of mushroom shape having a horizontally-arranged cap and a stern centrally depending from said cap; said cap being adapted to rest within the header on the upper end of a tube of less inner circumference than the periphery of said cap, said cap having its lower circumferential corner cut away to provide a horizontally-arranged circumferentially extending recess to receive the upper end of said tube, the lower circumferential corner of said cap being cut away more deeply at spaced intervals along its periphery to provide, at each cut, an inlet port in the periphery of said cap, an outlet port in the bottom face of said cap and an interposed passageway interconnecting said ports; and, there being attached below said stem, an extension which increases circumferentially in the downward direction to form a depending spreader, the lower end of which is adapted to cooperate with the internal periphery of the tube to form a circumferentially-extending slot therebetween.

2. A liquid distributing device for controlling and directing the flow of liquid from a header into a verticalf ly arranged tube comprising: a body of mushroom shape having a horizontal cap and av stem centrally depending from said cap; the lower peripheral corner of said cap I being indented continuously throughout its circumferential extent to provide a downwardly facing seat and an outwardly facing device-centering shoulder; the lower peripheral corner of said cap being further indented more deeply, interrupting said seat and said shoulder, to provide an inlet port in the periphery of said cap and a liquid passageway extending from said inlet port to an outlet port in the bottom face of said cap; and there being attached below said stem an extension which increases circumferentially in the downward direction to provide a spreader which is adapted to cooperate with the inner wall of a tube of larger inner circumference than the circumference of the bottom edge of said extension to form a slot between said spreader and said tube.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein: said lower peripheral corner of said cap is more-deeply indented at a plurality of circumferentially spaced locations to provide a plurality of said liquid passageways.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,465,118 Diescher Aug. 14, 1923 1,498,339 Baker June 17, 1924 1,522,366 Hiller Jan. 6, 1925 2,424,441 Edmonds July 22, 1947 2,498,752 Copeland Feb. 28, 1950 2,753,932 Eckstrom July 10, 1956 

